Thursday, April 9, 2009

No.18: Fair Day in Tupelo

Children enjoying a game of chance at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show.

Every year in mid-September, schools in Tupelo and Lee County dismissed for Fair Day. Children who marched in the fair parade were admitted free of charge to the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. The Fair was a big event in Tupelo in my childhood and youth. Downtown stores gave away tickets for chances on cars that were given away by a drawing each night of the Fair. (In the weeks leading up to the Fair, and during Fair week, those cars were prominently parked in different locations around the downtown area with signs on top of them advertising the Fair.) One of my sister's friends won a car before she had a driver's license. When she turned 15 she took possession of her big black Buick.

The Fair featured a mid-way full of rides, games of chance, freak shows and other exotic shows. The kids in the newspaper photo above were playing one of those games of chance. (Look carefully, and you may see someone you recognize.) Various charitable and civic organizations operated booths where hamburgers and hot dogs were sold or where you could play bingo for prizes. And of course Fair visitors walked around eating candy apples and cotton candy.

Of less interest to me, but obviously a lot of interest to some, were the livestock shows and other judged events that were exhibited in the permanent Fair structures. These events were sponsored by the RCDC (Rural Community Development Council) that operated in Lee County.

Thinking about the Fair reminded me of Long's Laundry which was located on the corner of Main Street and the little street that led to the entrance to the Fairgrounds. The most memorable part of the laundry was its neon sign that featured a washerwoman in motion, washing clothes on a scrub-board.

Today the old Fairgrounds have been developed by the City of Tupelo as Fairpark District, a growing collection of retail, office and residential space. The new City Hall is located square in the middle of the old mid-way. (Visit http://www.fairparkdistrict.com/ for information about the Fairpark District development.

2 comments:

John, I was so excited to read this. I have the exact same memories as you and that's problably because I am also graduated from THS in 1970. If I had known about this blog earlier, I would have been reading it all along. I will certainly read it regularly from now on.

What We're Doing Here

At some point in your life you realize you have more years in your past than you will have in your future. (That's a pretty sobering thought when you think about it.) At that point you find yourself looking back more often than you ever thought you would, and you find yourself enjoying going over your recollections with people you shared them with.

This blog will be a collection of memories of what Tupelo was like when people of my generation were growing up. Since I still live in Tupelo, I will probably sprinkle in a few observations of the changes our community has experienced for the benefit of any reader who has moved away and may not have been back for years.

What exactly do I mean by "my generation"? I suppose I will take a fairly liberal view of what that generation consists of, but my memories are going to be in the context of someone who graduated from Tupelo High School in 1970. I would encourage any reader to join in with comments. The only requirement is that you have to register an account with Google. If you already have an account, just sign-in and post your comments. (If you'll use your real name, I'd get a kick out of knowing who's reading.) If you want to make an original post, you can send it and any picture you want to put with it to me at jpnail@comcast.net, and I will get them posted. If you do enough of that, I'll probably invite you to join me as a co-author.

If all of that is too much trouble, I hope you'll just enjoy reading and referring others from "our generation."